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iAcquire EDU: Essential Behavioral Psychology for Inbound Marketers

As we get ready to explore the practical applications of Behavioral Psychology through the iAcquire EDU series “Behavioral Psychology for Inbound Marketers,” you’ll definitely want to take this opportunity to review the materials in the “required reading” section…

Welcome back to iAcquire EDU. We hope you’re as excited for the upcoming session as we are.

As we get ready to explore the practical applications of Behavioral Psychology through the iAcquire EDU series “Behavioral Psychology for Inbound Marketers,” you’ll definitely want to take this opportunity to review the materials in the “required reading” section so you can brush up on your behavioral psychology and learn how to become a better, smarter marketer.

In addition to the recommended reading list, we’ve compiled some great websites, presentations and videos for your viewing pleasure.

Behavioral Psychology Recommended Reading

Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely

Predictably Irrational is an impressive work by Behavioral Economist, Dan Ariely. Part of a growing body of work that offers an alternative to “Rational Choice Theory” in economics, this book provides some very interesting insights about the hidden biases and patterns of thought that often affect our decision making processes. Drawing from his expertise in Economics, Dan Ariely offers some very actionable tips and tricks that will be of use to any marketer.

Nudge is another great work partially inspired by Behavioral Economics. This book is largely responsible for making “Nudge Theory” accessible to a wider audience through it’s practical exploration of Choice Architecture. Nudge offers some great examples of how Behavioral Psychology can encourage better decision making, but could probably have explored the ethical issues better.

Don’t have time to read the book? The Wikipedia Article has a crash course on some of the importan fallacies and biases explored in Nudge. On the more practical side of things, there’s also a companion website full of examples at http://nudges.org/.

Emotion and Reason in Consumer Behavior by Arjun Chaudhuri

Emotion and Reason in Consumer Behavior is a little bit of a departure from the other works on this list, as it’s aimed primarily at researchers in the field rather than the average consumer. This book is an in-depth exploration of the roles that emotional stimuli and rational analysis play in shaping our behavior; specifically as it relates to consumer purchasing behavior. It’s a bit of a heavy read, but well worth it if you can get your hands on a copy.

Can’t get your hands on the book? Don’t worry, we’ll pull relevant excerpts from the text and include them in future lessons from iAcquire EDU. In the meantime, acquiring a basic understanding of current consumer behavior models will definitely be worth your effort.

While this is a website, and not a book, this resource is still recommended reading for the course as BJ Fogg is an expert in the field. The behavioral model proposed by Fogg is a simple, yet powerful tool for planning different User Experience Interactions for the purposes of encouraging consumer behavior.

Videos Worth Watching

RSA Animate – The Paradox of Choice

The Paradox of Choice is an interesting exploration of how freedom to choose isn’t always a good thing. Professor Renata Salecl explores the paralysing anxiety and dissatisfaction surrounding limitless choice. Does the freedom to be the architects of our own lives actually hinder rather than help us? Does our preoccupation with choosing and consuming actually obstruct social change?

RSA Animate – Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us; which is adapted from Dan Pink’s talk at the RSA, illustrates the hidden truths behind what really motivates us at home and in the workplace.

We hope you’ll take the time to read through these as we continue to prepare for the launch of the video series. Reading and consuming some of the information listed above will help tremendously in being able to pick up on the video material and quickly moving towards implementing on your own end.

With that in mind – enjoy!

P.S. What do you feel we missed here that you think others would benefit from reading?

Great tips. I have been reading Predictably Irrational, Contagious, and Made to Stick among others, and find them each very useful when it comes to understanding consumer behavior and how to motivate them. Rand’s presentation on the nudge effect is also a great slide deck (as are most of his).

[…] amazing research from the web and elsewhere on all things behavioral psychology. Our last post “Essential Behavioral Psychology for Inbound Marketers” was a great starter collection of books, posts, videos, and presentations on the topic and we […]